By Zoey Jordan Salsbury | Deputy Director
For the past few months, we have been heavily focused on preparing the underlying infrastructure our site needs to be accessible to a primarily Spanish speaking audience. Prior to the start of this project our forward-facing site was only available in English, as was the app. We’ve been working with our native Spanish speaking team members to translate all the text on our site. We plan to have that content live within the next month.
Our team also connected with José Andres’ team after being inspired by their impressive work and commitment to Puerto Rico’s disaster relief. After exchanging a few emails, our teams plan to meet on June 21 to discuss collaboration and best practices. Playing off of each other’s strengths will help make the most impact for Puerto Rico and the disaster’s refugees.
Another potential partner is Rescuing Leftover Cuisine, a fellow food recovery nonprofit. Their system is in fewer cities but offers transportation, which makes donations move much more successfully. RLC has a small branch in Miami, a city that received one of the largest influxes of Puerto Rican refugees. They are very interested in growing their network in Florida through a partnership with us.
To sign up nonprofit users in Florida, we plan to use postcard outreach as our primary method. We’ve previously found that the majority of published phone numbers for food pantries are incorrect, disconnected, or no one answers the phone. Because of that, we will be sending postcards in both English and Spanish to nonprofits in Florida that feed the hungry.
To sign up food donor users in Florida, we hope to use José Andres’ restaurant industry contacts in the region. We are hoping to exhibit or attend multiple industry events in the area, such as the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Show in September, and other national food industry events.
By improving our own site’s accessibility and partnering with an experienced Puerto Rican relief group, we hope MEANS’ technology can be used as a tool to alleviate food insecurity both on the island and in communities of refugees in Florida, as originally planned.
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